8o 



REPORTS ON INVESTIGATIONS AND PROJECTS. 



sionally possess female organs as a purely somatic character. There was 

 indication last year that the egg-cells of hermaphrodites do not possess the 

 capacity to regularly produce hermaphrodite offspring, as the sperm-cells of 

 the same plants do. The crucial test of this matter is a cross of unusual 

 difficulty, in which the hermaphrodite is used as the female parent, and but 

 little success has yet been attained in securing crosses of this nature. How- 

 ever, the one family of this type tested this year again indicates that the 

 hermaphrodite condition is not regularly inheritable through the egg, but 

 only through the sperm. Dr. Shull hopes that a concentration upon this 

 phase of the question may in future give sufficient material to clearly demon- 

 strate the relation between the sexes in Lychnis. 



Indian Corn. — These cultures were also enlarged by Dr. Shull in order to 

 thoroughly test the relation between self-fertilized and cross-fertilized off- 

 spring within the same families, not only in pure-bred, continuously self- 

 fertilized lines, but also in first-generation and second-generation hybrid 

 families. Special attention has been given also to the relative vigor and 

 variability of second-generation hybrids as compared with first-generation 

 hybrids and with pure lines. The result of last year's crop indicated that the 

 first-generation hybrids between pure lines present the same degree of fluctu- 

 ation as the pure lines themselves, while the second generation is considerably 

 more variable. The second generation was also considerably less vigorous 

 on the average than the first generation. Both of these results were in per- 

 fect accord with conclusions previously gained and already published. As 

 the corn is not harvested at the time this report is made, the outcome of the 

 further tests of these points can not be summarized here. 



Oenothera Breeding. — The continuation of Dr. Shull's cultures of cross- 

 fertilized and self-fertilized families in Oenothera lamarckiana and O. rubri- 

 nervis has been made possible through the kindness of Miss L,utz, who has 

 carefully kept all notes and made the necessary crosses. A considerable 

 number of new forms have been detected whose status as mutants it is hoped 

 to test by subsequent breeding. 



The number and size of cultures involved in Dr. Shull's investigations may 

 be noted in the following table : 



Name of species. 



Chrysanthemum maximum 

 Chrysanthemum nipponi.... 



Digitalis 



Lychnis dioica 



Lychnis haageana 



Name of species. 



Lychnis(melandrium) rubrum 



Oenothera 



Rudbeckia hirta 



Zea mays 



Total 



Variation in Wild Plants. — Pressure of experimental work has made it 

 necessary for Dr. Harris to limit his work along these lines almost exclu- 

 sively to fertility characters. 



